Gaza mortar fire wounds 6 Israelis

JERUSALEM -- Palestinian militants in Gaza blasted a military base in southern Israel with mortar shells late yesterday, wounding six soldiers.

JERUSALEM -- Palestinian militants in Gaza blasted a military base in southern Israel with mortar shells late yesterday, wounding six soldiers.

It's the latest assault in an unraveling of a truce between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers.

Israel's rescue service said one of the soldiers was critically injured and the others were slightly or moderately hurt.

Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the small Popular Resistance Committees, an ally of the Islamic Hamas militant group.

The military base is near a fuel terminal that supplies much-needed gasoline and cooking fuel to impoverished Gaza.

According to the Israeli military, Palestinian militants fired 11 shells into southern Israel from Gaza yesterday. Three of them landed at the base, the military said.

Palestinian gunmen clashed with Israeli troops elsewhere along the Gaza-Israel border. The military reported that one militant was shot. A Gaza health official reported one Palestinian was killed, but that report could not be confirmed.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the mortar fire came in response to that clash.

"We have said from the beginning that any Israeli breach will be met with a response, and this was a response," Barhoum said.

The 5-month-old truce between Israel and Gaza militants began breaking down in early November with an Israeli operation against Gaza militants.

Israel has responded to ensuing mortar and rocket attacks from Gaza by tightening its blockade of the coastal strip.

Only small shipments of aid and fuel are currently allowed into Gaza, deepening the hardship there.